Troost Avenue Bridge Public Art

Derek Porter Studio is teamed with el dorado inc.
and Custom Engineering for this public art project associated with a public
works bridge replacement as well as other ancillary roadway, intersection,
hydraulic and landscape improvements. In addition to the development of a specific work of art, the
artist team is charged with contributing to the overall bridge design and site
improvements with the goal of assuring the pedestrian experience for this
cultural charged urban area is ideally served. Initiated in 2004, this $20,000,000 project has involved
interface with local and state offices, community groups and numerous private
consultants.

Troost Avenue has long been a perceived racial and
social divide in Kansas City, as it runs north and south through the heart of
the metropolitan core. Brush Creek
with its flood control channel and pedestrian link to a high-end shopping and
commercial district, passes under this bridge and connects to surrounding
residential neighborhoods. The
design focuses on this east-west/north-south axis to conceptualize the bridge
as a Cartesian ‘marker’ for this important social confluence and to bring
emphasis to a much-needed east / west connection. Transparency, reflection and openness evolve as seminal
interests both literally and metaphorically with the art. Laminated glass replaces conventionally
applied opaque barriers to allow views of the surrounding neighborhood and
contemplative self-reflection.